VI. Neville Longbottom

"NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM?!?!?!"

Neville turned around to find a wizard standing outside his cubicle. He had never seen this wizard before, and was wondering what he could possibly want.

"Ron Weasley wants you to interrogate someone who just tried to attack him."

"Why would someone attack him in the Ministry? That's freakin' stupid! Who could be that dumb?" said Neville, taking a sip of his Root Beer.

"Draco Malfoy," said the wizard, causing Neville's Root Beer to come shooting out of his mouth.

"Draco?" asked Neville, and the wizard nodded. "Why would he attack Ron? He became all friendly with us in our 7th year…"

"That's what we need you to find out. At least you have the general idea of what to ask," smiled the wizard, and Neville laughed.

"Well, I'll be off. Would you mind wiping up that Root Beer please?"

"No problem."

"Oh! Does Ron have any Veritasernum?"

"Yeah, he's got some," said the wizard, and before Neville even replied, he was out the door and on his way to Ron's office, his head swimming with questions the whole time.

When he arrived, Draco had already regained consciousness.

"Hi, Neville!" shouted Hermione, who was the only one to see him walk in, as most of the attention was centered on Draco.

Hermione ran up and hugged Neville. He returned the hug, and gave Hermione a look that said, we'll talk later, but I have to work now.

He bent down over Draco, and with some difficulty fed him the Veritasernum, which would force him to tell the truth.

Draco looked up. "I don't need that," he said. "I am outside of her control. There is no need for me to lie. You must know the truth."

"Which is?" asked Neville, glad that he would not have to worry about whether Draco was lying this moment, because he had the Veritasernum to back him up.

"There is someone who wishes that-" He didn't get time to finished the sentence, though, because at that moment Harry Potter walked in the door, and Draco tried to jump up to get to him, but, thinking that Draco was going to attack him, Ron shoved him back down to the ground.

"Finish what you were saying!" shouted Neville, who had just realized a flaw in something Draco had previously said.

"I was saying that there is someone who wishes that Harry Potter were – dead. This someone sent me to finish him off."

"Who might this person be?"

"Cho. Cho Chang," Draco said, while the whole room stared in disbelief.

"Why?"

"Cedric Diggory."

"What does he have to do with this?" asked Harry from a seat in the corner.

"Everything," smiled Draco, who was glad to be helping Harry, after just trying to kill his best friend. "He was the son of a Death Eater. Not that man that you met," he said, seeing the look on Harry's face. "That was his adoption father. He met his real father at Hogsmeade, and he told him that he was a Death Eater, who was trying to find Harry Potter, so when You-Know-Who did finally returned, he would be honored beyond anything imaginable. He needed help, though. Someone who could get close to Harry, and finally bring him to his demise. Cedric realized just before the Yule Ball that he was going to need help. He asked Cho Chang at the Yule Ball, and she agreed to help him. She knew that Harry Potter liked him and she knew that she could use that to get closer to him and find out information about him. She proved useful, and by the time the third trial rolled around, they had a plan ready. Cedric's real father, who was helping You-Know-Who return to power, set up a portkey in the maze. When Cedric touched it, him and his father would be honored the moment that You-Know-Who came back. There was a problem: Harry didn't die. He and Cedric agreed to touch the Cup together, and they were transported to the graveyard. His father killed the wrong guy, and You-Know-Who was forced to duel Harry, who made it back to the maze. He was a good guy and took Cedric's body. Too bad he didn't know that Cedric could have deserved less. Much less than that.

"Cho got mad, but decided to continue their efforts. She tried to catch Harry alone several times, but he was always surrounded by friends. She dated him, but the subject of Cedric kept coming up. Trying not to give away any information about their plans, she cried every time the subject came up. It seemed a better way of channeling her anger than exploding and telling him what she was up to.

"She decided to wait until Harry was out of Hogwarts to get back at him. The situation no longer became a matter of finishing what she had helped Cedric start, it became a matter of getting revenge against Harry. She vowed to get back at him. She didn't want to get caught, so she decided to use others instead. She found me in Tutshill, after my try-outs for the Quidditch team. Pansy, my girlfriend, had come as a surprise to meet me afterward. Cho invited us to dinner, and soon had control over us, using us to do things for her, to make sure that her control over us was complete and unwavering. She kept us under control for several years, just to make sure that she could do it for years. She found that she could, but what she didn't realize that I was beginning to fight it. The further I was able to get from her, the more I was able to fight. I was sent to kill Ron and Harry. I knew that I would be far from Cho, so I was hoping that I would be able to stop myself.

"When I got here, and shot at Ron, I purposely missed. I couldn't keep from saying the spell, but there were some things that I had control over. I knew that if I could just put off hitting Ron, I would be able to fight it. I had not expected him to fire that spell at me, but I am glad that he did. I cannot feel Cho's control anymore. I think that I am free of her. I could feel her before, but I feel now as though part of me is missing. I feel free."

"Isn't that touching? I just have one question: Where is she now?" Neville asked.

"She is in Little Whinging."

"WHAT IS SHE DOING THERE?!?!?!" shouted Harry, jumping up, and knocking the chair over.

"She was looking for Dudley. She doesn't know that he's not living at number four Privet Drive anymore. She took me under her control, but she didn't make me tell her everything I knew."

"Would she be at his house now?" asked Harry hopefully.

"Probably. She knew that he would probably be willing to kill you without her mind control. He's not a wizard, though, so she decided to go down there herself."

"Shall we send out the hit witches, Harry?"

"Yes, I believe that would be the best thing to do."